ELL News Headlines

In the year since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, they have used their muscle to restrict the education and curiosity of girls. They've been banned from high school, told to cover up and stay home. But in one secret book club in Kabul, about a dozen teenagers are defying the Taliban to continue learning – and along the way have connected to a girl from a different time and place who was also forced to live her life in secret.

So after honoring International Literacy Day and its theme of changing literary spaces, we need to take a closer look at where and how we learned during the pandemic, and what we can do to improve literacy going forward. One way is to reimagine the places where reading happens, such as homes, schools and community spaces.

As the first in his family to go to a four-year university, he faced a struggle to pay tuition, buy textbooks and supplies, and balance a job while still helping to support his parents, who questioned the value of a college education. Haro-Flores enrolled at the University of Northern Colorado in 2016, among a growing number of Latino Coloradans in the past decade heading to college. But like many in this wave, Haro-Flores never finished, contributing to the persistent gap in college completion. 

Hurricane Fiona left hundreds of people stranded across Puerto Rico after smashing roads and bridges, with authorities still struggling to reach them four days after the storm smacked the U.S. territory, causing historic flooding.

Since June, Owensboro Public Schools has added nearly 100 English Language (EL) learners to their population, meaning approximately 8% of the district’s students are multilingual learners. The district has put in measures such as adding EL teachers and using new communication technology to make sure they are meeting the needs of all students.

"What do you want your teacher to know about you?" Esther considered the question, sitting in a small room with Ms. Odette, the interpreter who was working with her to complete her learning profile—a tool that helped us learn about new students and tailor instruction to meet their needs. Ms. Odette guided Esther as she wrote her answers in English. "I want my teacher to know I’m Smart in Swahili."  I was Esther’s teacher. She wanted me to know that although she could not yet speak English, she felt confident as a learner in her first language.

Within minutes of casting her line into the bright green algae-covered waters of Powderhorn Lake, Arati watched her bobber lurch below the surface. Like everyone at the lake that day, Arati is new to the U.S. and Minnesota. She came to this fishing day through Nature for New Minnesotans, a pilot project developed by the University of Minnesota’s Extension services and a language class at Our Saviour’s Community Services English Learning Center.  

Alexandria "Lexi" Aniyah Rubio was looking forward to playing volleyball when she got to junior high. She dreamed of going to law school one day, and she loved astrology, butterflies, and the color yellow. (This report is also available in Spanish.)

Since the advent of the pandemic, enrollment decline has become a national trend for many school districts across the country. In Los Angeles Unified, the decline has been most apparent among our youngest learners in kindergarten — a 14% enrollment drop in 2020 and a 6% drop in 2021. There is evidence that a decline in kindergarten enrollment will contribute to a widening of the achievement gap between those who enroll and those who did not attend or were chronically absent in kindergarten. This is a preventable tragedy.

According to 2019 data, there are nearly 5.1 million English learners enrolled in public schools in this country, and that number has steadily increased in the past two decades. Many students are taken out of class and placed in separate ESL learning rooms. Often parents are faced with a choice that involves investing more in English language learning than their heritage language. It’s a common experience for recent immigrants to the U.S. or children of immigrants.